Insuring a pallet business through OOM Verzekeringen
A pallet business is effectively a stock of timber in the open air. Insurers do not assess your shed; they assess the distance between your stacks and the neighbours’ boundary.
- Several insurers compared objectively
- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
- AFM licence 12016589
- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
This page in another language: Nederlands
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
- Independent advice
- Several insurers
- Switching arranged
- Help with claims
In brief
We place business through OOM Verzekeringen among others and compare more than thirty insurers objectively. For timber storage, few insurers accept the risk and the layout of the site decides the outcome. We therefore submit an application with a site plan, stacking heights and distances rather than a standard form. For the way cover on the buildings is arranged, the buildings insurance for a warehouse is the comparable starting point.
What sets it apart is the outdoor storage. Timber in stacks metres high, with air between them, dries out and burns fast and hot. Almost every policy therefore treats it separately: storage in the open air is covered on a limited basis or excluded for storm, theft and sometimes even fire, and where cover does exist there are conditions on maximum stacking height, bay size and the distance to buildings and the boundary. If you do not keep to those distances you not only lose cover for the stock, you also run the risk of the fire spreading.
That brings us to the second theme: damage at the neighbours. If the fire spreads to the adjoining building, their insurer will pursue you under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, on the basis that you allowed a dangerous situation to continue. That claim runs through a public and employers' liability insurance. Contaminated firefighting water running into the ground is a different matter again and belongs on an environmental damage insurance. For the business standing still, a business interruption insurance needed.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare buildings insurance (opstalverzekering).
The same independent view, whatever insurer
We work with dozens of insurers and choose whichever fits your situation best — not whichever pays us the most. That means advice built around you, not around one brand.
Insurers
Independent
AdviceWhy arrange it through Finass Verzekert?
We look at the terms as well as the premium, and stay your point of contact when there is a claim.
Independent
We are not tied to one insurer and compare on the basis of an objective analysis of several companies.
One fixed adviser
You call or email someone who knows your file. No menu options, no changing call centres.
Switching without hassle
We cancel your old policy and align the start date, so you are never a day without cover.
Help with claims
We report the claim and monitor how it is handled. In urgent cases you can reach us on the emergency line.
What to look out for
Four points that decide acceptance and claims handling in pallet trading.
The site layout is a policy condition
Insurers set down how high and how densely you may stack, how many metres must be left between bays and up to the wall, and where waste may lie. That is not advice but a clause. If it emerges after a fire that pallets were stacked against the shed wall, cover becomes a matter for discussion. Keep to the layout at peak stock levels as well, and record the situation photographically at regular intervals.
Processing increases the risk
Repairing, sawing, sanding, heat-treating or spraying pallets brings wood dust, sparks and hot work onto the site. That must be reported separately, and insurers attach requirements to it: extraction, a dust-free working area, a procedure for work involving naked flames and an inspection round afterwards. A fire starting during or shortly after hot work without that procedure is a well-known ground for declining a claim.
Pallets that are not yours
Exchange pallets, pool pallets and pallets that customers leave on your site remain someone else’s property. They do not fall under your goods cover, and on the liability policy the care, custody and control exclusion applies to precisely these items: damage to goods you have in your custody but do not own is excluded as standard. Arrange separate care, custody and control or bailee cover for this and keep a record of what belongs to whom.
Heating, storm and forklifts
Three causes of loss that keep coming back. Spontaneous heating and self-ignition in damp timber or timber waste are excluded as inherent defect. Storm shifts stacks and damages tarpaulins, but damage to goods in the open air is often not covered. And a forklift that hits a stack or a wall falls under plant and machinery and not under your buildings policy. Have all three routes worked out in advance.
What does your premium depend on?
- Extent of the outdoor storage: the quantity of timber in the open air and the stacking height
- Distance to buildings and the boundary: the most important underwriting question for timber storage
- Processing activities: repair, sawing or heat treatment on site
- Construction of the shed: the structure and the degree of fire compartmentation
- Site security: fencing, lighting, cameras and supervision outside working hours
- Detection and firefighting provision: fire detection, alarm monitoring and available firefighting water
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | Property damage | Liability |
|---|---|---|
| Sparks from the saw set fire to the stacks beside the shed | Yes | No |
| The fire spreads to the neighbouring firm’s unit and their insurer pursues you for the loss | No | Yes |
| A customer’s exchange pallets standing on your site are lost in that fire | No | No |
| An autumn storm blows stacks over and tears the tarpaulins | Provided that | No |
| A forklift hits a driver’s lorry on your site | No | Provided that |
| A break-in at the shed in which tools and an electric pallet truck disappear | Yes | No |
Goods in the open air are subject to separate limits and to conditions on stacking height and distance; have each quote set out which part is included.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Is my stock outside insured against fire?
Not automatically. On most policies, goods in the open air have their own arrangement, with a limit and with conditions on stacking height and distance. Some insurers exclude outdoor storage altogether and cover only what is kept inside. Have each quote set out which part of your stock is included and on what conditions, rather than relying on a single sum insured.
What if the fire spreads to the neighbouring business?
Then the neighbours’ insurer will pursue you. The allegation is that you allowed a dangerous situation to continue, which is assessed under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. Your own fire policy does not cover that. This is liability. Make sure the sum insured reflects the surroundings, because an adjoining industrial unit is a large item.
Who pays the clearance and clean-up costs?
On a fire policy, clearance costs sit in a separate, limited section that is quickly inadequate after a large timber fire. Contamination of soil or groundwater by firefighting water falls entirely outside it and belongs on environmental damage insurance. Charges raised by the environmental agency and administrative fines are always for your own account.
Do I have to report peaks in stock?
Yes. If you work with a fixed sum insured and hold twice as much in the high season, that part is uninsured and the whole loss is settled proportionately as well. Discuss a first-loss arrangement or a stock clause with declarations per period. Article 7:960 of the Dutch Civil Code still applies: you may not end up better off as a result of the payment.
Every situation is different. For these situations we have a separate page.
- Why we work with different insurersThe main page
- Insuring a recycling company through OOM VerzekeringenSelf-ignition, lithium batteries, soil risk
- Insuring a business storage facility through OOM VerzekeringenThird parties' goods, fire load, declaring the use
- Insuring a multi-tenant business building through OOM VerzekeringenChanging tenants, heaviest use, loss of rent
- Insuring a coffee shop through OOM VerzekeringenTolerated status, stock, cash
- Insuring a brothel through OOM VerzekeringenLicence, acceptance, night-time use
- Insuring hospitality premises through OOM VerzekeringenGrease extraction, flat above, tenant’s interest
- Insuring a Ljungby MaskinLjungby Maskin, value over time, security, repair
- Insuring a warehouseBuilding, contents, storage